Cold Delirium
by Your-Protector
Summary: Maka and Spirit are having financial troubles, so when Maka takes a new job out in the mountains to service rich clients, what will come of it? Can the girl who can hardly hold her tongue suffer through 7 months with these ignorant brats? What happens when she accidentally falls for one of her clients? What will happen when the season is over? M for language and maybe other stuff
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: My first attempt at a SoMa fic. Please bear in mind that I haven't seen Soul Eater in about one or two years (need to go back and watch it), so if its OOC its not my fault I just suck by nature. Also: if you've seen the movie Chalet Girl you'll find this pretty familiar.**

**But I've been wanting to write a SoMa fic for so long they're like _it_ for me. They're my OTP of OTPs, goddammit. **

**So, I hope you enjoy my measly attempt. I usually half-ass these kinds of things but I kind of want this to be good (really just an experiment) so I full-assed it. Maybe its good... Tell me!**

* * *

The year this story takes place, is the year nearly everything happened to Maka Albarn.

Only a year ago, Maka had been on top of the world. She was the smartest girl in her entire school; she had steadily made a name for herself in the world of martial arts and was continuing to win great amounts of awards. Money was tight at times, seeing that her dad blew off a lot of the money they made on partying, but everything was alright as long as she was with her family.

Her mother was everything to her. Without Kami, Maka was nothing. She didn't have the will or motivation or idea to dare her in the ways Kami did. Kami pushed Maka to the top of her class, she introduced her to martial arts, Kami had paved Maka's life to what it was.

But it was that one fateful night that had changed everything.

It was late, the competition had taken all day with a great outcome- Maka had won the tournament and was now the best junior competitor in all of Death City. Despite the rain, the Albarn's spirits were high. As Spirit drove them home, Kami had rolled down the windows and turned the radio up. Her and Spirit had begun to try to sing along to a rap song on the radio and talk about how 'hip' they were while Maka laughed and hid her face in embarrassment.

The rain came in through the window in sheets, but none of them really cared.

When it grew heavier, it became harder and harder for Spirit to see the road. A large truck slammed into their small car and there was nothing else to it. Kami Albarn had died on impact.

And Maka would have followed soon after, she had damaged her leg pretty badly and it didn't take a genius to figure out if the paramedics hadn't arrived on time, she would've died from internal hemorrhaging.

When she saw her mother laying lifelessly in the passenger seat as she was wheeled away on the gurney, she thrashed and shrieked and yelled. The pains in her heart, not to mention her leg, were far too overpowering. She begged the paramedics to leave her to die along with her mother.

She couldn't do it. Not without her.

* * *

"…and that concludes today's competition, sad to see newcomer Maka Albarn still hasn't made an appearance since last year."

"Well, of course not, not since her mother passed."

"May she rest in peace, poor Maka, hope she's doing alright. If you're watching this Maka, know that you're in our hearts and we hope that whatever you're doing, you're living the dream!"

"I think that's enough," Tsubaki reached over and took the remote from Maka, turning off the small TV set in the staff room.

Maka sighed in her chair, it squeaked with every contortion of her body. "I'm sorry, Tsubaki."

The Japanese woman gave the girl a melancholy smile, "It's not your fault, Maka, don't apologize. I just hate to see you bashing on yourself like this."

"I'm tr-"

"New fifty percent off on chicken wings, please form a line, and please don't rush!" A loud, eccentric voice interrupted Maka's train of thought through the intercom.

"I guess that's our cue," Tsubaki laughed nervously, offering Maka a hand from the plastic fold up chair.

They both walked back to the counter, the restaurant was completely empty, not a soul.

"This is some cruel joke," Maka huffed, rolling her eyes. "He thinks he's being funny."

Tsubaki let out another shaky laugh, "Oh, you know how Blackstar is,"

Maka sighed, "When did this job become the rest of my life?!" she cried.

The other woman looked around alarmed as she tried to soothe the younger girl, "You know, um, my cousin just got into this great business. It's serving appetizers and champagne to rich people,"

Maka went silent and perked up at Tsubaki's words. "It pays well?"

She nodded, "Only problem is, you have to be posh."

Maka scoffed, "I can be posh!"

Just then, Blackstar emerged from the kitchen with a grin painted onto his face. "IS ANYONE WORTHY OF THIS BIG STAR'S PRESENCE? IF SO, THEN-"

"SHUT _UP_ BLACKSTAR!" Maka screamed, she shoved a chair aside and stomped after the man who was running away laughing.

Tsubaki sighed; at least Maka was a hard worker.

* * *

"Maka! You're home!" Spirit sang from where he resided on the couch.

Maka sighed and set her backpack down at the door, she would retrieve it later to start up on her homework. "Spirit, what have we talked about?" she held up the mountains of mail in her arms. "We talked about how you _need_ to answer the emergency bills or else they'll _take our house away._" Maka narrowed her eyes at the man sinking back into the couch, trying to go unrecognized.

"I'm sorry, Maka! I'll remember next time, moneys tight and all." He said in a small voice.

Maka dropped the stack on the coffee table and walked over to the table where the Albarn's laundry was kept in an unruly pile of downy. She began folding the clothes, "I don't know, dad, why don't we sell the Bentley? Oh?" she looked out the window, folding a shirt in half. "Someone's stolen the Bentley!"

"Now now, just cause we don't have a car doesn't mean you should be bitter about it." He sighed, turning on the television.

"I was thinking about taking a different job," Maka said evenly. "It pays better,"

His head of red hair turned to look at her, "How much better?"

"400 a week plus tips," she said excitedly. "It's working as a maid for rich people.

His eyebrows flew up, "Are you sure it's just working as a maid?"

She laughed, "I'm sure. Tsubaki's cousin is in the program, only problem is it's too far away, I'd be gone for a couple of months too."

"You should take it!" Spirit brightened, "When is it? You wouldn't be missing school would you?"

"It's from November to May, nothing I couldn't make up, but still. It's far too long away from you." She picked up the pile of newly folded clothes and began to make her way upstairs.

"What do you mean? I'm a big boy, I can handle myself!" He protested, following after her.

She scoffed and turned around, "Please, I'd come back and find a skeleton on the couch holding the TV remote." She looked down at his hand; the remote was still being clutched tightly. "And our house would be evicted because you don't _pay the bills_." She said through grit teeth.

"Makaaa," Spirit wailed, but to no avail. His daughter was far too stubborn, just like her mother. "You don't trust me?"

She ignored him and shut the door to her room. The hallway was silent for a minute until she said, "Fine, I'll go to the interview." Through her shut door.

* * *

When Maka arrived at the Four Seasons hotel, she was greeted with the biggest shock of her life. There had to be at least eighty girls standing around the ballroom dressed to the nines. Their hair was done up in hairstyles that must've taken hours, Maka had simply rolled out of bed and put her hair in pigtails. But the thing that worried her the most was that all the other girls were wearing dresses. Maka didn't even know that there were that many shades of pastel pink. She looked down at the sweatshirt she had stolen from Blackstar, her jeans she's had since fifth grade, and her scuffed up sneakers (also from fifth grade) and felt a tad (more like extremely) underdressed.

Not only was the fact that this was at an entirely different caliber than she had expected, but the building itself was twice as intimidating. The ceiling rose up at least twenty-five feet. There was intricate artwork painted on it that Maka couldn't make out because of the astounding height. The doors were large and made of some sort of wood that probably cost more than Maka's house to import to the hotel, and finally there were armoires stacked against the walls at various locations with large amounts of china and silver platters. Maka was afraid to even get close at the thought that she'd break something.

Before she could escape, a woman in a pastel pink suit and a clipboard walked up to the podium that Maka had just now noticed, it was made of the same wood as the doors. "Welcome ladies," her smile was forced. "I have read through all of your impressive resumes and rounded you all up here today to test your skills for the clients." Another smile, "Now then, shall we begin? First off, I'll be calling out the names of twenty girls who will be participating in the testing." She cleared her throat and read the names off the clipboard.

Maka breathed out a sigh of relief when her name was mentioned around slot #18. All the other girls around her groaned and after a couple of minutes (30) the girls who hadn't passed were escorted out of the building.

The Clipboard lady's eyes scanned over the remaining twenty and stopped on Maka. She looked her over and scoffed, obviously at her appearance, which made Maka want to scream. "Now then, congratulations to all of you, we'll be testing your cooking skills first."

Perfect. All Maka did was cook and clean. Her father enjoyed her meals, and the customers at Blackstar's restaurant didn't get food poisoning OR heartburn when Maka cooked, the recipe for success.

"Alright, here at these tables," Clipboard motioned to the tables behind them which Maka, again, hadn't noticed. "There are all the ingredients you need for a proper Bundt cake, you have ten minutes prep time and you are free to cook it however you like."

Maka cracked her knuckles and her neck before she got to work, which earned her a couple of stares from the other girls who were a bit disgusted and confused as to what to do.

Maka knew how to cook cakes, she didn't know what the heck a Bundt cake was, but the cake tray they had laid out for them to use was pretty funky, so she just assumed it had to do with the shape.

She immediately got to work, stirring and measuring ingredients perfectly. It would be the perfect consistency- spongy and soft. When she finished and stirred the batter into the tray, she was motioned out of the room to various industrial ovens in the kitchen. She set it to bake for thirty minutes and was then further escorted outside.

The girls were struggling to finish, there were two minutes of prep time left and some hadn't even picked up a whisk! But that wasn't her problem, Maka quickly sent Tsubaki a message that she was at the interview and wouldn't be able to come work her shift at the fast food restaurant.

Tsubaki responded with a message that read: Nothing's happening anyway, Blackstar didn't even notice your absence at first :)

Which made Maka laugh. It had been a couple of months since Maka had taken the job at the restaurant. It was the dying branch of a horrible food chain known for its disgustingness. However, Maka had found friends in her coworkers. Blackstar was her manager, and as annoying he could be, he was a good friend. And Tsubaki, the most patient and nice person Maka had ever met. Tsubaki had been Maka's friend even before the accident, and had helped Maka get a job. It wasn't that hard though, she just had to tell Blackstar he was a god and she was given the job. She now worked three hours after school and five on the weekends for ten dollars an hour- basically nothing.

She snapped out of her small daydream when she heard the ding of her oven and scurried back into the kitchen. There were oven mitts on the counter which she used. The cake was perfect, exactly how she had planned it out to be.

She brought it back to her table and put it onto its platter. She sprinkled a bit of powdered sugar onto it to add flavor while it cooled.

Clipboard came down the aisle and marked minuses next to the girls' names. None of them had pulled through; some had cooked rocks of hardened flour while others had batter of various things that shouldn't be mixed together. She stopped at Maka's table and looked at the cake thoughtfully. She nodded, not looking at Maka, as if not giving her the satisfaction, and put a small plus next to her name.

"Ok, we'll take a small break and begin the second part of the assessment in fifteen minutes. A reduced list will be posted and then you will all be escorted into the next room."

Maka's heart sunk, she was already exhausted. She had baked a cake in a half an hour! Plus, the little shrieks and high-pitched voices of the girls were beginning to get on her nerves pretty badly.

Ten minutes into the break, a list was posted. Only six girls remained, and, much to her relief, Maka was one of them.

The other fourteen girls fanned out of the room but not before throwing tantrums and smearing their eye makeup. Maka didn't understand what the big deal about this thing was; it was just a job, right?

Men in suits motioned for the girls to enter the next room which was designed in the fashion of a dining room. They were told to sit down and wait.

The table was made out of that same wood again. It was if it was haunting her with its expensive-ness. If this thing didn't work out, maybe she could just cut a chunk out of the table and make a run for it; maybe they'd be able to afford a car.

Set out on the table was some of the fine china from the other room. Two plates, four wine glasses, three forks, two spoons, two knives; Maka's head was spinning.

The wooden door opened with a creak and because Maka's view was obscured since she was farthest from the door, she just assumed it was the clipboard witch again. All the girls stood up and curtsied.

It took her a second, but she gulped and stood too, ignoring the horrible scraping sound the chair made. She could practically hear the girls rolling their eyes and she heard a sigh come from the woman with the clipboard.

"Alright girls," Clipboard lady barked, "You're alright."

The girls said thank you and sat down. Maka plopped back down in her seat without a second thought.

"Your names." Clipboard ordered.

"Arabella." The first girl said clearly. Maka leaned over the table to see them all sitting with perfect posture, like their spines were nailed to the backs of the chairs.

"Patronella." The second girl smiled warmly.

"Isabella."

"Maribella."

"Annabella."

Suddenly everyone was looking at Maka, slouched down in her chair with her baggy sweatshirt that belonged to her manager at her minimum wage job. "Oh! Uh, Maka."

Clipboard narrowed her beady eyes and scribbled something on her clipboard. She looked over Maka distastefully and it took everything in her being not to stick her tongue out at the unreasonable woman. "I'm going to say the name of the item on the table and you will identify it." She said finally, after one last assessment of them all. Alright, that was clear and simple. But how would she know what fork was for desert and which one was for sticking up your nose (if that's what rich people even did (probably)).

The lady began going down the line of girls and calling out the use of the object.

"White wine." Clipboard said aloud to Maribella.

They were coming down the row quickly and Maka was starting to freak out, if she screwed up even more than this she'd surely be in her cage for months at this point.

Maribella pointed to the middle wine glass. "Correct." Clipboard gave a papery smile before moving on to Annabella.

"Red wine."

She pointed to the next glass in the row, which must've meant there was some sort of pattern in the system! Perfect! Maka wasn't screwed after all!

"Correct."

She waltzed over to Maka's station and scoffed again at Maka's appearance, who, at this point, really couldn't care less.

"Desert wine."

Maka paused and bit her lip. She reached out and pointed to the tall and thin glass and hoped for the best.

Clipboard lady pressed her lips together to form a straight line. "No."

Maka dropped her arm and ignored the girls' snickers; she began to pick at the dirt under her nails to hide the embarrassment.

Finally after getting two out of five questions right for the place setting quiz by pure guessing and process of elimination, the girls were pulled into a separate room to be given a final assessment by the witch. Which was just Maka's luck seeing as though that woman was extremely impressed by her.

* * *

The room was small. There was a desk at which the lady was surrounded by papers- most likely the other girls' resumes and assessments.

Maka plopped down in the armchair facing the desk and waited patiently while she finished scribbling her notes down.

"Now, er, Maka?" she didn't wait for Maka to approve before she went on. "You're a lovely girl, but I'm just not sure-"

"Let me try," Maka offered, shrugging. "You're just not sure I'm the kind of girl for your clients, it's hard to say why exactly but it's probably got something to do with the fact that I'm not called Arabella or Isabella or anything-bella. That I don't have one hundred dollar highlights, perfect nails, and- I'm just guessing here- expensively trimmed pubes. So, even though I might be the only person with actual experience of actual work in the real world and you know I'd try really, _really_, hard… I'm just not the right kind of girl." Maka cocked her head to the side innocently, "Isn't that right?"

The clipboard lady opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't quite form anything better than, "That sounds about right."

Maka shrugged and stood up from her chair, turning to get her backpack in the corner of the room. She didn't turn around when she heard the lady's ringtone, some sort of classical piece with Violins.

She answered the phone with a perky: This is Bella!

Maka rolled her eyes. She crossed the room as Bella made flabbergasted noises into the phone, not quite catching what it was about, Maka turned the knob on the door.

"Stop right there," Bella called from her desk. She looked down at her papers and scanned for a name, "Uh, Maka."

* * *

"You got the job!?" Spirit yelped with glee. "It's going to be great!"

"I said no, Papa." Maka muttered, storming up the stairs.

"But, why?" he whimpered, pushing out his bottom lip.

Maka sighed, "I have too much to do here! I can't just drop everything!"

"I'll take care of things," he promised. "You can call me every day and check; I'll even find a witness."

"If it's one of your sleazy girlfriends I'll hang up." Maka mumbled sourly.

"What was that?" he asked, "I didn't catch what you said."

"Nothing." She quipped, after a moment of thought and getting annoyed at her dad's blubbering face, she added, "Fine. I'll do it, I'm going to have to call soon though, and I'd have to leave tomorrow."

Spirit looked at his disheveled daughter, he prayed that she would just sit back and wait for things to play out, but that wasn't Maka. She needed to have the reigns tight on everything, and everything needed to be perfect. An easy job like this would ease her stress, not to mention she'd be shipped off to some other country where she could relax in luxury. "Call now." He smiled. "Start packing, I'll start up on dinner."

"You only know how to make beans on toast," she grumbled. "Just start chopping vegetables and I'll be down in fifteen minutes."

* * *

Maka walked towards the door tentatively, but turned back to look at Spirit. "Is this a good idea?"

She made a face when he said: Don't ruin your chance! Go already!

"Are you throwing me out?" she asked, dragging her heels in the ground to halt him from pushing her out the door where the town car was waiting for her.

"Of course not, Maka, I'll be waiting for you when you come home, and that's the point: nothing will happen while you're gone. Nothing will happen without you, I promise." Spirit said sincerely. "I love you, Maka."

She embraced him tightly and smelled him for the last time in seven months, "I love you too, Spirit." She gripped her bags until her knuckles turned white. "I guess I'm off then," she turned towards the door, and then kept going; completely unaware of the life changing journey ahead.

* * *

**I've always wanted Spirit and Maka to be on good(ish) terms. I've of course thrown in his irresponsibility but I'm gonna tone down his womanizer-ness a bit. He's a minor role in the story anyway. But I just love writing Maka thinking that her dad's an idiot for his own handful of reasons, not because he did something to hurt her.**

_** Please tell me what you think! I accept all kinds of feedback and based on what kind of reaction I get, I'll update!**_


	2. Chapter 2

The overnight train took ten hours.

In that time, Maka was overrun with emotion. Being in any means of transportation still frightened her, when she closed her eyes, she could only remember the blinding lights and blare of the truck's horn before it collided with their car.

That made it difficult to fall asleep.

She wondered how Spirit would do without her, she had cooked him enough food to last four months, but what about the other three? He would never remember to go grocery shopping until it was 3AM and he was going downstairs to get a snack, and then he'd just forget in the morning.

She'd have to call him later, she told herself.

These days were especially rough, since it was nearing the anniversary of her mother's death. Even though Maka's birthday wasn't far off, she could only think about her mother.

By the end of the train ride, Maka had purple circles under her eyes the size of saucers.

* * *

Maka's legs were unusable for a good thirty minutes after the ride. She stretched them out in the waiting room. It wasn't until she saw a girl carrying a sign that read her name that she finally attempted to use her wobbly feet.

The girl had to be at least five years older than Maka. She had long, wavy, purple hair and was tall with giant curves. Maka felt meek and boring compared to the woman's flamboyant appearance. The woman was talking animatedly into the phone when Maka walked up with her duffle bag and backpack.

"Oh my god, the guy was staring at my tits the _whole night_! How awkward! And he had chest hair, ew!" She giggled into her phone. Maka gave a small wave awkwardly in front of the girl's face; since she was wearing sunglasses, it wasn't apparent to Maka whether or not she had seen her. "I'll call you later, babes." She hung up her iPhone and slipped it into her expensive looking jacket. She had the fur hood pulled over her head. A slim manicured hand tilted her aviator sunglasses down so Maka could be met with two yellow eyes- like a cat's- and a judgmental gaze. "Seriously?"

Maka bit her lip, surprised by her bluntness. "Yup." She grinned.

She sighed, jutting her jaw out in annoyance. "Okay, let's go," she walked through the sliding glass doors coolly, unaffected by the burst of cold air.

Maka hugged herself tightly as she walked a couple of feet behind the girl who was now walking towards a black BMW.

"Put your bags in the back and get in," she climbed into the drivers' seat and started the car.

Maka did as instructed and hopped into the passenger's seat. "What's your name?" she tried to be friendly and pretend to be ignorant about the girl's obvious disappointment.

"Blair," the word was unfriendly.

Maka realized that was the end of the conversation and took to enjoying the scenery.

She had never seen mountains this close before. Her life had been Death City and Death City only. Occasionally the Albarn's had gone on family vacations- before the accident- but they were few and unimportant. One of Maka's favorites had been their road trip to L.A. It was the first time she had seen the Pacific Coast.

But this was of an entirely new caliber. Mountains! And snow! Maka had seen snow before, it snowed in Death City a little bit on especially cold winters, but this was in sheets. And it was everywhere. It looked as if the landscape was painted over with powdered sugar and all Maka wanted to do was roll around in it.

"They're… huge." Maka said in awe, her face pressed up against the glass.

"Yeah… they're mountains? Huge is part of the concept…" Blair cocked her head, "You don't even ski, do you? What are you even doing here?"

Maka was taken aback by the question, "It's a job, I need to earn money."

"O-oh…" Blair stuttered a bit, "Wait, you mean as in like… save?"

Maka turned to look at her in confusion, was she serious? She shook her head and turned back to the window.

* * *

The drive took about an hour to get up the mountain. More sitting that Maka wasn't fond of. Plus Blair's sour remarks every time she tried to make conversation was getting on her nerves too.

They had pulled into the ski village and it wasn't long until they approached a group of skiers trudging back in their gear. Blair beeped the horn and a girl's head whipped around, she hit a boy with her skis which made Maka laugh inwardly.

When the girl saw Blair her face brightened with a grin. She sauntered over to the car and Blair rolled down the window.

"I'd recognize that ass anywhere," Blair joked.

"Hello ugly," the girl smiled. "Are you coming out then?"

"Yeah, just got to drop off the new girl first." Maka couldn't see it, but she was positive Blair had rolled her eyes.

"Ooh! New girl! Let me see!" she batted Blair's head away and leaned in to get a look at Maka.

"Mizune, this is Maka. Maka, Mizune."

"Hi," Maka smiled.

Mizune looked like she was stifling a laugh, "Hi." She stole a look at Blair and the two burst out laughing.

Maka frowned and looked down at her shoes, her right shoelace was untied.

"I'll see you later, babes." Mizune said through laughs, she clutched her stomach and stepped away from the car.

"See you later, babes." Blair smirked and drove ahead of Mizune's group.

* * *

The drive wasn't much longer, and finally after driving deeper into the mountains, they pulled into a giant three story chalet.

"This is the main building," Blair commented, sliding out of the car gracefully. "I work here. You'll be taking care of the private chalet over there." She pointed to the smaller two story lodge that connected itself to the main building with a hallway.

Maka stared up at the building, dumbstruck. "So does this guy own an evil criminal empire then?"

"It's a family of musicians," Blair rolled her eyes, stuffing her hands into her pockets.

"So… that's a yes then?" Maka joked, pulling the strap of her duffel over her shoulder and lugging it up the steps.

Blair whirled around suddenly, which almost caused Maka to backwards down the stairs. "You don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?"

"This is the best job in the Sierra Nevada! I have thirty girls calling and texting me and _begging _me for this job!" Blair sighed, "But, the agency said they'd have to have seen the girl first."

Maka laughed, "You know what's funny is that I wasn't even gonna take the job at first- alright maybe it's not that funny." She added when Blair shot her a look.

Blair exhaled, "Just do what I tell you, or else I _will_ tell them."

"Listen, just a week ago I was mopping up puke at a burger bar-"

"No, you listen, you little… charity case, no coat, non-skiing freakshow!" Blair motioned with her hands to Maka's apparent 'freakshow'-ness. "The Evans fly in at five. They expect perfection from the start. Now, if you screw up, or even worse- make me _look_ bad… then," she reached for her skis at the top of the porch and threw them over her shoulder. "Cleaning up puke at a burger joint will be a fond memory of the good old days. Got it?" Blair smiled sarcastically and turned rapidly. Maka ducked at the skis flying at her head.

"Got it." Maka squeaked. She watched the girl stalk off towards the ski village. "I guess I'll just make myself at home then." She smiled at the smaller and cozier looking cabin.

* * *

The thing was like a maze. Maka didn't even want to know what the other building must be like. Every room just led to another, undiscovered one. It didn't take that long for Maka to find her living quarters, though. It was a small room under the stairs. There was a twin bed with sheets already set out, there was a shelf above it and a nightstand next to the cot. The whole room slanted down with the orientation of the stairs. Maka would get used to the small space though.

She set her bags down and went to explore the rest of the building.

* * *

Books. That was the best part.

The amount of books there were in the entire house was astounding. There were books in the kitchen, the living room, the den (which she still didn't know how it was different from the living room), but the greatest place was the library.

It was larger than the other rooms. It had tall ceilings and bookshelves nailed into the walls all the way up to those tall ceilings. There was a piano in the room too, which she disregarded, but did take note of, because she thought it was odd to keep a piano in the library. But nevertheless, she picked out a couple that seemed interested and plopped down in the armchair. These next few months would be heavenly.

"There you are!" Blair sighed in relief, walking into the library. Maka was already two thirds through _Einstein's Dreams._ She closed the book and looked up to the older woman with disinterest. "We've got work to do.

Blair led Maka into the main building and showed her where everything was, sheets, towels, food, restock. She then retaught Maka how to make beds and retaught her how to use the washing machine and retaught her how to use a dishwasher. Maka scoffed, it wasn't as if she was from Neptune or something.

"Alright," Blair fanned out the sheet before laying it flat on the bed. Maka grabbed the corners and helped her. "There are three golden rules for taking care of the chalets. One: no friends up in the chalet." Maka pursed her lips. "Two: You can party all you want the night before as long as breakfast is on the table _at eight_. You oversleep, you pack your bags." Blair gave her a stern look as if she thought Maka wasn't disciplined enough. Please, Maka was the only reason she and Spirit were alive. "Three…" Blair pondered it for a moment. "No sleeping with the clients… unless they're hot… or minted…. Or, hitting on you." She nodded in approval.

Maka rolled her eyes, "Basically, there's only two rules."

Blair bit her lip and shrugged, "Basically… yeah."

* * *

"I'm more 'front of house' type," Blair explained, grabbing four wine bottles. "You're more… 'back office'. I know how to talk to them."

"Yeah… I don't speak much posh… I dropped it after Latin.." Maka joked, putting the carrots into the large refrigerator.

Blair rolled her eyes and inhaled through grit teeth, "Are you done?"

"Yeah," Maka closed the refrigerator door. "I thought you said their plane landed at five?" she asked.

"It did," she answered from the other room. "But the pilot called, they ran into some headwind."

"Oh, right." She picked up another bag and began putting more foods into the fridge. "Wait, the who called?"

* * *

"Oh great," Blair groaned, pulling up to another parked black BMW. There was a man leaning against it. He had graying hair and an awfully long nose that must've cost him a lot of shit in high school. "He's here already."

"Who?"

"The client's ski guide, fixer, and all around sleazebag." For once Maka saw Blair's annoyance directed at someone else other than herself that day.

The two girls strode over to where he was standing, his hands were in his suit pockets and he wore the same look Blair did.

"Maka, meet the all-powerful, extremely handsome, Mosquito." Blair offered a hand as if she was showing him off; her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"You're late," he spat. Maka found the name odd but she could see where he got it. She wondered if he had a real name that didn't seem like he had chosen a random nickname from high school.

"Did I mention very charming as well?" Blair added.

"Is this the new house maid?" he asked, looking over Maka. She was beginning to get really tired of these dejected looks from people who believed themselves to be better than her.

"Hi." Maka gave him a half-hearted smile and held out her hand.

He offered her a hand to shake that was still in his coat pocket. "Hey! Welcome!" he retracted his covered hand and walked towards the group of people walking towards them.

Maka could tell by the group that there were five. Five more looks to go through. "So, who is everyone?" she asked.

"Oh you'll figure it out," Blair said distractedly staring at someone in particular that Maka couldn't tell by.

"You know," Maka began, "You're going to have to stop being so helpful all the time."

She stared at the group and tried to map everyone out, when someone in particular caught her eye.

It was the most handsome man she'd ever seen. His features were pronounced and sharp, in an elegant sort of way. He had stark white hair; it was unkempt and cut badly, in a cute, boyish way. He had bright red eyes that made Maka's heart skip a beat, although his eyes hadn't even met her's yet. She tried not to stare, but it was all too hard. His leather jacket clung to his biceps nicely, she regarded. And he seemed to hang back from all the hellos and introductions.

"Rule three?" Blair made Maka jump away from her thoughts. "Anyway, he's taken."

"Turned you down, did he?" she laughed at her own joke.

Blair laughed too at this seemingly insane thought, "No,"

"So, uh, how do I… you know, talk to them?" He had said something to one of the other people-a woman- and she had given him her bags, he was carrying them towards Maka and Blair with a smug look on his face.

Blair wound a piece of hair around her finger, "Oh," she laughed. "You don't talk to them. You don't even look them directly in the eye."

Maka's eyes widened, she didn't realize that she would have to go through this much trouble-

"Oh, and curtsy when you meet them." Blair added.

The boy approached the two girls with his arms full of cheetah print luggage that he looked discontent to be carrying.

Maka curtsied.

"Alright then you selfish slut," A sultry baritone voice chuckled.

"Aww good to see you too needle cock!"He dropped the luggage at his feet and hugged Blair, who was laughing.

They broke away and he looked down at Maka, smirking. "You alright down there?" God that voice was sexy. If she wasn't mistaken, his eyes widened a bit when she looked up at him.

"Uh, yeah." Maka laughed, standing up straighter. "You know, er, just stretching." She cracked her spine for affect, Blair stomped on her foot with her boot and she stifled a scream.

"Is this the new helper?" he turned to Blair. She was completely ignored. Maka was fuming, but at least there wasn't a look.

"Something like that," Blair said, standing on her toes.

He turned back to look at her, his eyes boring into her skin.

"I'm Maka," she smiled warmly.

"Soul," he shook her hand with a tight grip and kept his eyes on hers. It made Maka's insides feel hot.

Suddenly two arms wrapped around his neck and a woman appeared, kissing his neck affectionately. "I am _so_ happy to be back." She murmured into his ear.

Maka pulled her hand away from his awkwardly and he turned to the other woman, distancing them a little.

"Hi!" the woman turned to Blair and engulfed her into a hug.

She drew back and wound her arms around Soul's waist, "This is the replacement helper, Mary." He explained, motioning to Maka.

"Maka," she corrected, but it went unnoticed.

Another man walked up behind them, he looked like Soul but his features were rounder and softer. He was taller and was obviously older, closer to Blair's age perhaps.

"This is Wes," Soul informed Maka, "He's my brother." She could've been wrong but he had a bit of a sour tone of voice on the word 'brother'.

Wes' eyes scanned over Maka and gave the signature snob look that Maka had grown so familiar with these days. He looked over at Blair who was looking at him with bedroom eyes. He smirked and Maka desperately wanted to whisper, 'Rule three' in a high pitched voice that mocked her own.

Soul and the other woman walked away, his hands in his jacket pockets and hers around his waist. Maka wanted to barf.

A man with hair matching his son's strode over, "Is this the replacement?" Blair nodded in approval. "Hello, my name is Richard." He held out a firm handshake, which Maka took. So far he was the only one who seemed nice. "Thank you for stepping in on such short notice, just… do whatever Blair does." He nodded at Blair.

"Except that thing with her chin," Wes reminded jokingly.

"Oh, well we like that don't we?" he mocked Wes, who was turning red.

"Hey, that was a one-off!" Blair protested.

Richard looked over his shoulder; a woman in a mink coat was walking down the runway towards them. "Speaking of one-offs," he joked.

"Hey!" she smiled warmly at Blair who hugged the woman tightly.

"This is my wife, Karen," Richard explained.

The woman drew back and looked at Maka. Her lips had formed a thin line. In contrast to the rest of the family, her hair was jet black. It hung around her pale face in ringlets. Her presence made Maka want to bow and flee all at the same time. She was absolutely regal.

"Who apparently has a throat infection," he added when Karen made no comment towards Maka's lack of impression.

"Will you help us with the bags?" Wes cut in, picking up one of Soul's girlfriend's cheetah print bags.

Blair and Maka nodded simultaneously. Much to everyone's surprise, Maka hauled four bags towards the back of the car, where they were being loaded.

Soul and the woman were snuggling in the backseat of the car, when Maka threw the bags in the trunk. Or rather, the woman was pressed up against him and cooing into his ear while he looked anywhere that wasn't her.

Maka wasn't amused by this family so far. And she'd be spending seven months with them.


End file.
